Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Chapter 317: Chapter 15: Duel to the Death

The old Hunter roared as he drew his longbow tight as the full moon, and with a flash of cold light, a heavy arrow whisked across the mountain stream. Guided by the wind, the arrowhead found its mark in the giant bear’s left eye.

Blood and other matter gushed from the socket of the giant bear’s eye. The momentum of the arrow did not stop there but continued to bore deeper, until the shaft sank more than three inches into the left eye.

Yet even the toughest longbow combined with a weighted arrow hitting directly in the eye could not kill the beast; instead, it only made it more dangerous.

Driven to frenzy by the agonizing pain, the giant bear let out a roar that made the mountains tremble. It abandoned Winters, who was within easy reach, and lunged towards the opposite bank to tear the old Hunter to pieces.

The old Hunter, who had twisted his ankle, did not run either but stood his ground, continuing to shoot arrows at the fierce beast.

He shot quickly and accurately, wielding the nearly two-hundred-pound draw weight bow in his hands as if it were a toy. The twang of the bowstring rang out continuously, each arrow striking the beast’s skull with precision.

But the arrows could not penetrate the creature’s hard skull, and the giant bear ignored the arrows sticking out of its head, its charge kicking up thousands of water droplets in the river. The shallow ford six or seven meters wide seemed laughable beneath it.

With nowhere to run and unable to escape, Ralph roared in fury, firing arrow after arrow at the bear in vain.

Barely regaining consciousness, Winters struggled to his feet and picked up a rock to throw at the beast. “Don’t run! Come kill me!” he yelled.

In the blink of an eye, the bear covered the thirty-some meters. The old Hunter watched the beast approach, his eyes wide with despair, and then he closed them.

Less than ten meters from Ralph, at the critical moment, a black high-headed horse charged out from around the bend in the river downstream at breakneck speed.

Seeing Ralph’s life hanging by a thread, the black horse’s rider did not swerve but crashed fiercely into the giant bear.

Even such an enormous beast stumbled from the full force of the charging Warhorse.

But the situation was even worse for the Warhorse and its rider. The Warhorse, with who knows how many broken bones, lay in the river channel, neighing in pain and struggling to get up.

The rider was flung from the saddle, arcing over the bear’s upraised shoulder blades and crashing heavily into the river.

Winters, of course, recognized the black horse; it was Gerard’s beloved steed.

“Mayor Mitchell!” he bellowed as he ran towards Gerard’s location.

The unbalanced bear, now even more enraged, smashed its massive paw down, crushing the skull of the black horse—Gerard Mitchell’s treasured Warhorse, instantly dead on impact.

As the ferocious beast turned to tear apart the human who shot arrows at it, more riders charged out from around the bend downstream.

Reinforcements had arrived—the Dusacks were here.

“Dammit! Does this thing eat shit to get this big?! Dammit!” old Sergei cursed loudly, riding past the Hunter on his Red Sun at full speed.

In the fleeting moment of a horse and man crossing paths, Ralph grabbed Sergei’s outstretched arm and swung himself up onto the horse’s back with acrobatic agility.

The Red Sun did not slow its pace, carrying the two men a dozen meters away in the blink of an eye.

The giant bear roared, intent on pursuing Ralph, but two more riders flew by its side. As they passed the bear, the riders threw their javelins, making use of the horses’ speed.

The javelins, carrying far more kinetic energy than arrows, pierced effortlessly into the giant bear’s abdomen, puncturing its organs.@@novelbin@@

Seeing the javelins hit, Dusa immediately pulled hard on the rope tied to the javelin and jerked in the opposite direction of the horse’s momentum.

Meanwhile, more Dusacks arrived at the scene. Although initially shocked by the bear’s size, they quickly regained their composure and, using the speed of their horses, threw their javelins at the bear, pulling on the ropes in the opposite direction once they hit.

The riders hunted the beast like a pack of wolves taking down a bear.

Another rider with an unmounted Red charger rushed to Winters’ side, Gerard’s son Pierre dismounted in a hurry, holding the reins of the Red charger and shouted, “Brother Winters! Rejek!”

This unmounted Red charger was none other than Winters’ Red-maned—Rejek, which Pierre had brought for Winters.

“Don’t worry about me! Save your dad!” Winters yelled anxiously, “He fell into the river!”

Pierre’s face changed drastically, and he dashed into the river stream.

With Pierre’s help, Winters dragged Gerard, who was dazed from the fall, towards the shore.

“We thought you were dead!” said Pierre incoherently, “Seeing the horn cup floating downriver, we immediately came upstream.”

“Not dead yet,” Winters laughed heartily, spitting out a mouthful of bloody saliva.

The people who landed behind Winters were startled to see Rejek return alone; Mayor Mitchell immediately led the Dusacks, leaving the footsoldiers without horses behind, and following the old Hunter’s directions, they pursued at full speed.

Fortunately, that had enabled the Dusacks to arrive in time to save Winters and Ralph; the militiamen from the other villages still had no idea where they were.

Winters first scooped the water from Gerard’s tongue root, then leaned over his chest to listen, and checked Gerard’s breath as well.

Pierre knelt beside them, at a loss.

“He’s still breathing! Come help!”

Together, they lifted the unconscious old Dusack onto the horseback, and Winters helped Pierre into the saddle, “Go with your father! Quick! Find Priest Caman!”

After speaking, he slapped Pierre’s mount hard on the back.

COMMENT
0 comment

Vote
3 left

SEND GIFT